Jordan Times
Sunday, April 26, 1998
King urges Netanyahu to revive peace process
By Fairouz Abu Ghazaleh
BADEN-BADEN, Germany — His Majesty King Hussein urged
Israel’s hard-line Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to help
revive the Middle East peace process warning that the continued
deadlock on the Palestinian-Israeli track was threatening the
whole region.
The King, speaking late on Friday after receiving the 1997 German
Media Award for his dedication and commitment to peace, called on
Mr. Netanyahu to respect peace agreements with the Palestinians
and to resume bilateral talks, stalled over a further Israeli
West Bank troop pullback.
He said the region was passing through a very crucial stage and
expressed hope that the foundations of peace will be laid on all
Arab-Israeli peace tracks so that a settlement can be
comprehensive.
He criticised Mr. Netanyahu, who opposes the basis of the peace
process, launched in Madrid in 1991.
“We all agree and we must insist to have agreements reached
as sacrosanct,” King Hussein said.
“We cannot change our minds... we cannot alter facts because
we have not thought enough...”
Mr. Netanyahu took over in June 1996 from the Labour-led Israeli
government that signed peace deals with Jordan and the PLO.
“Those who stand as an obstacle in the path of peace are
imprisoning themselves within their own narrow minds,” he
added.
The King also blasted Mr. Netanyahu for saying that he would not
accept any imposed ideas from the United States, the main broker
of the seven-year-old peace process, to break the impasse.
“So, when we hear some say, as a colleague in the region
recently said, that we do not accept any dictates, it is not a
question of dictate,” he added.
“But when things go wrong, the U.S. and our friends in
Europe are duty-bound to come and help with balanced suggestions.
It is our duty to achieve durable peace for the generations to
come,” King Hussein stressed.
The audience at the ceremony in the main German spa town of
Baden-Baden included German President Roman Herzog, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat, and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon
Peres.
Mr. Arafat himself won the same Media prize in 1995 together with
the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was awarded
posthumously.
The King, flanked by her Majesty Queen Noor, praised Mr.
Arafat’s long-struggle to attain Palestinian aspirations and
assured him of Jordan’s continued backing.
The King also said Mr. Netanyahu could be sure of the
Kingdom’s support as long as he backed peace efforts.
“I hope and ask that he will commit himself to our course,
the course of peace as he has promised, and we will support him
in this,” he said in an impromptu speech.
“We see ourselves in a critical time — a time when we
can contribute to build on our own achievements, particularly
regarding the situation in Israel and Palestine,” he said
before receiving the German media industry’s annual award
for outstanding international figures.
“We cannot afford to lose time and we cannot miss the
opportunity to move forward,” King Hussein said.
Other winners of the prize, an award conferred by leading
newspapers and magazines, include Russian President Boris
Yeltsin, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the late French
president Francois Mitterrand.
President Herzog, who handed His Majesty the media prize, hailed
the King’s efforts to keep the peace process alive, saying
the prize was a recognition of his life’s work in trying to
bring about reconciliation in the Middle East.
“This prize is a recognition of your intrinsic qualities;
for visionary strength, for pragmatism, for readiness to
cooperate and — last but not least — for the ability to
communicate,” he told the King.
The Monarch said dialogue and understanding were the way to
forward such a mission.
“How can we sort out our problems if we never put ourselves
in the place of those with whom we have problems?” he asked.
Questions like this, he added, were on the mind of the people of
the Middle East: Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis and Arabs.
Hence, he said, the present opportunity for peace should be
seized in order to secure a better future and attain a lasting
peace on all Arab-Israeli fronts.
He also called on all parties to continue the struggle against
terrorism, saying those who revert to violence were the enemies
of peace.
He also praised Mr. Peres, describing him as an old friend
committed to the cause of peace.
In return, Mr. Peres told reporters: “I think if there is a
man who deserves it, it is his Majesty King Hussein.”
“His Majesty is a builder of peace, a maker of peace and a
maintainer of peace,” Mr. Peres said. “He has shown
enough courage to propose the structure of peace, enough will to
make it a policy and enough wisdom to maintain it despite all the
difficulties.”
King Hussein thanked Her Majesty Queen Noor for the continued
help and support she provides him in difficult times and said she
has been his partner in building the nation.
His Majesty later met with Mr. Arafat and Mr. Peres and discussed
with both leaders issues blocking the peace process and the three
men stressed the need to forge ahead to reach a final settlement.
Their meeting precedes the May 4 Middle East peace meeting in
London, what could probably be the last chance to achieve a
breakthrough.
“We are at a very critical stage,” the Monarch told
reporters after the talks. “I believe that in the coming
short period, matters will hopefully either take the right course
or those responsible for obstructing the peace process will have
to take responsibility for their own actions.”
The three leaders also praised the American efforts to move peace
making, especially recent U.S. proposals on a further Israeli
troop redeployment from areas of the West Bank.
“We are referring to the U.S. as a partner in the peace
process,” His Majesty said. “Rejecting the involvement
of this partner is an insensible thing.”
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to meet
separately with Mr. Arafat and Mr. Netanyahu in London at the end
of her Asian tour to try and break the impasse amid rising
scepticism.
However, responding to a question on the meeting, the King said
that Washington was committed to playing an active and
influential role in the negotiations.
“The role of peacemakers is to get together and work
hand-in-hand to defend the rights of the coming generations to
enable them to live in a comprehensive and lasting peace and
stability in the Middle East,” he said.
Mr. Arafat told the Jordan Times before his departure from
Germany on Saturday that his meeting with the King and Mr. Peres
looked into means to salvage the peace process.
“We discussed ways of rescuing the process, especially with
the stubborn and irresponsible policies of Mr. Netanyahu that are
aimed at destroying the process,” Mr. Arafat said.
He also reiterated the Palestinian’s commitment to all
redeployment agreements signed with the Israelis.
Mr. Peres expressed his dismay over the shackled peace process
saying: “It is very difficult, but I don’t think it is
lost and I don’t think it is dead.”
He told reporters that “every great historic movement has
its setbacks and disappointments and failures, but there is no
alternative, and despite all the difficulties I don’t hear
any voices calling for war.”
He urged Mr. Netanyahu to take some risks saying he was too
worried with his own coalition government that has shown division
over the course of peace.
“You can’t have peace without risks, otherwise you will
have the risk of war,” Mr. Peres said. “And it is
better to have the risk of peace than the risk of war,” he
stressed. “I think we shouldn’t lose our hearts now, we
must go ahead.”